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CAMPUS OPERATIONS, CONT'D...From greenery to a Green TeamTHAT PROCESS BEGAN LONG BEFORE APRIL 2007, WHEN PRESIDENT JOAN Hinde Stewart placed her signature on the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, which requires participating colleges both to take immediate steps and to establish long-term policies to become more carbon neutral. In a broad sense, Hamilton's environmental concerns can be traced from founder Samuel Kirkland's interest in the teaching of the best agricultural practices, to the first 19th-century efforts to design and landscape the campus, and through the modern evolution of the Root Glen and the Arboretum. "We've done a lot of things historically that have been green," says Karen Leach, who as vice president of administration and finance directs the College's Sustainability Committee. But as the extent and long-term threat of climate change grew clear in recent decades, along with the risk of continued dependence on fossil fuels, Hamilton's environmental focus expanded to include the full range of campus operations. When planning began for the Science Center nearly a decade before its 2005 opening, provisions were made for a "Green Team" that would provide advice and monitor construction on the building. The team, comprising faculty members, students, staff and members of the architectural firm Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, was led by Douglas Weldon, director of the Neuroscience Program and the Stone Professor of Psychology. Weldon — at the time science curriculum and facilities coordinator — and his team created an exacting approach that would provide a model for future campus construction. Heating and cooling for the Wellin Atrium in the state-of-the-art Science Center would be provided by an underground geothermal loop system. Wood in casework, millwork and lab furniture would meet the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council, with recycled materials such as tires and steel also widely used throughout the building. Fumes from laboratory hood exhaust would pass through heat recovery systems before being expelled from the building. Labs would be outfitted with occupancy sensors to minimize wasted lighting and air flow. Natural lighting and passive solar heat in the atrium would add to the building's overall energy efficiency. Beyond the blueprints, the Science Center also embodied several ideas that would prove to have long-term environmental traction:
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 LEED Sets the Bar High for Buildings |
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